


Carpe Tentaculum

by issabella, traumschwinge



Series: Erik the Wereoctopus [1]
Category: X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom, X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Animal Erik, Consentacles, Crack Treated Seriously, Erik Logic Is The Best Logic, Honestly Charles What Are You Thinking, I Blame Tumblr, M/M, Mixed BE/AE spelling, Other, Smitten Erik, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Were-Creatures, Wereoctopus Erik
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-07
Updated: 2014-11-28
Packaged: 2018-02-24 11:34:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2580014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/issabella/pseuds/issabella, https://archiveofourown.org/users/traumschwinge/pseuds/traumschwinge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From the shallow depths of the sea close to the shore, Erik has watched Charles for quite some while now, deeming him finally worthy of being his human mate. However, it's not so simple to seduce a human when you're an octopus yourself...</p><p>In short, the infamous wereoctopus crack fic some of you might already have seen on tumblr, now cleaned up and edited.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **Traum:** I wish I could say I was sorry for this but that would be a lie.  
>  **Issabella:** It was only meant to be a tiny cracky ficlet...

The sea. On its top there might be roaring thunder, lightning hitting the surface, storms whipping up the water to role about in gigantic waves that crash against land and swallow anything trying to ride it. But the deeper one submerges, the calmer the sea gets, until there is nothing but darkness and silence, hiding creatures never to be seen by human eyes.

Yet sometimes, something will rise up, linger in the place far beneath the turmoils of the surface, yet above the serenity of the everlasting dark deep and when it returns to its dark hiding place it will leave something behind. Something that is drawn not to darkness but to the light of the moon. Once it’s reached the surface it will know only one thing for sure, it doesn’t want to be alone.

 

♣

 

The sun turned the water into a glittering surface, and the sand of the beach pleasantly warm, except where the water lapped at the shore. Charles sat on the end of the jetty leading into the sea. He had the fishing rod and a bucket filled with fish beside himself, though he felt less in a mood to fish than he had in the morning. He looked back over his shoulder, watching Hank and Raven for a moment, who seemed intent to build a sort of harbour for their toy-ship, that was merrily bobbing in the waves closeby, anchored by a stone expertly tied to it by Hank.

Except him and the children there weren’t that many people about. The perks of living close to the ocean, you could come here in the late afternoon after work and enjoy a few peaceful hours in the sun and avoid the crowds that streamed to the beaches at the weekend.

Smiling Charles turned back towards the sea, shielding his eyes with a hand to be able to observe the waves lazily rolling towards land. Focused on the horizon he missed that he no longer was as alone as mere moments before.

♣

Erik had been waiting patiently, his body wedged between some rocks, where he was unseen by any of the loud splashing humans that sometimes flailed about in the water, and by the small fish that were unfortunate to pass. He tried to ignored the first and snatched up the second to utilize as snacks to help him pass the time.

It wasn’t the first time he was sitting here, he often had waited and watched for - him. But unlike all the other times, today he had every intention to make contact, and take the first steps to make interest this one special human in him, too.

Finally he was there, sitting down on the jetty, his legs dangling over the edge, to look out over the ocean. For a moment Erik completely forgot what he had planned to do, just watched him. ‘Charles.’ He had heard him called that and had thought about the name. He liked it, it sounded like the waves drawing back from a beach filled with empty shells. It sent shivers down the tips of all his eight tentacles.

Speaking of which, his favourite tentacle had let go of the rock and treacherously drifted up to the surface. Quickly Erik pulled it back before Charles could see it. He couldn’t simply wave at Charles, that wouldn’t do. Luckily Charles turned away just in that moment, and before Erik could rethink his plan, he pushed himself out from between the rock and towards the wooden structure upon which Charles sat.

Erik took hold of the pole, making sure the waves didn’t let him drift away again. He looked up and saw that he was positioned perfectly. There were Charles’ legs and feet (and Erik had always wanted to touch those strange not-tentacles humans used for walking) right within his reach.

He pulled himself that last bit up and out of the water. The sounds changed, no longer was the rhythm of the ocean vibrating through his body, but he could still feel it, right underneath him – and he moved, to the sound of the waves and currents deep below. He swayed his whole body from side to side, tentatively lifted one tentacle, then another and let them dance through the air as if it were water. More by accident than planned, an errant tentacle brushed against the soles of Charles' feet.

But Charles didn’t seem to ‘get it’--it being Erik’s well practiced dance of seduction. Instead he seemed to think Erik was just a poor confused octopus and wanted to help him get back into the water. First, he did so by simply leaning over the edge of the jetty, reaching out for Erik so he could try to untangle his arms from the pole. When that didn’t help, he put down his fishing rod and slipped off the jetty and into the cold ocean water.

Erik found Charles’ attempts to pry him free rather annoying. Charles’ fingers always moved and eluded any of Erik’s attempts to wrap his tentacles around them. For a moment it seemed like Charles wanted to pull back completely out of Erik’s reach, resulting in Erik flailing his tentacles wildly.

Then suddenly Charles was beside him in the water. His fingers were gently brushing over Erik’s skin in their attempt to free him from the wood and coax him back into the water. Erik rather liked the feeling of them.  

Then another little epiphany defeated the last remnants of Erik’s annoyance. Charles was now in the water, in Erik’s natural element, even touching him all over. Quickly Erik let go of the pole and wrapped his tentacles around Charles instead. Charles’ arm felt just as good as his fingers had, and it had exactly the right size to be comfortable to cling onto.

Charles on the other hand was very confused to find the octopus suddenly wrapped around his arm instead of the pole. He tried to gently pull it off there too, but it was all in vain. Besides, the suckers were pretty strong and Charles was afraid he might hurt himself or the octopus if he pulled too hard.

“Just what is it with you, you stupid octopus?” Charles murmured to himself.

All he could really settle on was trying to coax the octopus off with gentle tickles and maybe bribing it with a fish or two he had intended to use as bait. It wasn’t really working. The octopus seemed to enjoy the tickles more than being annoyed by them and the fish just casually disappeared into the beak on the underside of the cephalopod. Charles let out a frustrated sigh.

The octopus eventually let go of his arm, however, only to wrap its tentacles around most of Charles’ upper body. As cute and funny as the clingy octopus might have been, this was really getting annoying. Charles was of half a mind just to leave the water, especially after one of the tentacles brushed over his butt and he was almost certain the damn fish had done it on purpose.

Meanwhile Erik wasn’t sure if Charles was really catching on, though the tickling touches felt quite nice and he wasn’t sure what the waving about with the dead fish had been about. He was a strong, healthy octopus and fully capable of catching his own fish, he hoped Charles knew that. (He had eaten them anyway, just in case Charles might get offended if he didn’t. Understanding human behaviour was tricky.)

Maybe he should have taken the advice of the moray eel called Shaw, who told him, that humans would only listen if he proved himself in the ways of the kraken of old and drag some ship to the bottom of the sea in front of Charles’ eyes, to make him see his strength and agility. Erik had even spotted one just now that seemed perfectly crushable. Even though it was only a children’s toy boat, he was sure he could have impressed Charles by destroying it.

But Angel, the manta ray, had overheard his conversation with Shaw and convinced him that she knew humans way better, for she had gracefully swum with them, unlike Shaw, whose contact with humans consisted of mainly trying to bite their arms off. And according to her, humans, shy water-fearing creatures that they were, had to be courted more gently and slowly seduced.

Well, he was giving gentle and seductive his best try, but why was Charles edging OUT of the water then? Perhaps he had touched him on the wrong spot. Human anatomy was a bit tricky. He reached his tentacles upward, covering the two brown nubs at Charles’ chest area with his suckers. He contracted his muscles and tightened his hold there.

The reaction he got was more than he had hoped for. Charles gasped, stumbled, slipped and with a big splash fell backward into the ocean’s waiting arms.

When Charles came back to the surface, gasping for air and coughing salty water, all he wanted was get back on dry shore and this damn octopus for good. In hindsight, he really should have bothered doing up his shirt. The suckers around his nipples just were the last straw.

As fast as he could, he waded back to the bank. He didn’t care for the octopus, at least not anymore. Heavens knew what else it would come up with after it had already touched his butt and nipples. From old texts and even more from old seaman’s yarn, Charles had heard about this curious behavior, but he had always assumed it to be simply that, stories, no more truthful than those about mermaids, to while away time and get some excitement when out on high sea. Yet as a scientist he also had learned to keep an open mind about such things, just in case, he resolved, that there was no way he would let it happen without a struggle.

When he had reached the bank, the octopus still stubbornly hung onto him though. It seemed a little more nervous now, however it made no move to let go. Quite the contrary, actually, it held on even tighter. Charles made one last effort to pull it off."If you don’t let go off me right now, you will have to come home with me," Charles told it. Despite him feeling ridiculous for doing so, he somehow managed to sound stern. "And at my home, there’s no ocean and I doubt you want to live in my tub. I don’t even have an aquarium."

No-nononono, this was going totally wrong for Erik. He clung on to Charles who, instead of embracing the ocean, ready to tangle his limbs with Erik, as he had hoped for, was now dragging himself out of the water. And Erik with him.

Worried, Erik looked around as the waterline started to drop around him, until the last tip of his lowest reaching tentacle left the water. He could feel the water running off Charles’ body too, and unnatural dryness engulf him. It made him nearly miss what Charles had said - that he was inviting him home, in a way. That sounded lovely, though Erik wasn’t sure what to make of Charles’ description of what the place was like, the warning tone of his voice made him feel a little uneasy. He’d never been to a human home, but he was sure they were rather dry places.

So why wasn’t Charles willing to stay in the ocean with him? Obviously something had gone terribly wrong in his courting-attempts. He should never have listened to Angel. She was probably close by, watching his humiliating attempts and laughing at him. Shaw had been right all along, he should have shown Charles what a powerful octopus he was and impress him with his boat-crushing skills, to make sure he felt safe with him in the ocean.

Though maybe it wasn’t too late yet.

Out of the corner of his eyes he spotted the toy-boat the children had put in the water, still dancing on the waves of the shallow bank.

Charles soon would see what a remarkable octopus Erik was. There was no more time to think his actions through, Charles feet had touched dry land. Erik let go of Charles, his body hitting the wet sand where the waves licked at the shore and with a twist of agile limbs, he slid back into the water.

He just hoped Charles wouldn’t leave right away, feared he might not even look his way when Erik accomplished his mighty deed. But he didn’t dare look behind himself back at Charles to check. He quickly swam towards the unsuspecting boat.

Never had he seen a kraken crush a boat before, only heard tales about how they went about it. He positioned himself right under the keel, then reached up with all eight tentacles, wrapping them right around the middle of the boat and pulled.

The boat proved more resilient than he’d imagined, fighting the downward pull all the way. Erik compromised, letting go with two tentacles in favour of aiding himself in his attempt by wiggling the tentacles down towards the sea-floor, searching for something to grab onto to pull himself down. He felt the boat’s resistant slowly giving way.

Yes, the taste of victory was at the tip of his tentacles, soon the boat – and Charles’ heart – would be his!

Furious shrieks interrupted his moment of  triumph, followed by the sound of splashing feet in the water.

Suddenly a hand grabbed him. Charles? No, the hand was much too small for that. Caught by surprise Erik’s tentacles slipped from the boat and the next thing he knew was that he was flung out of the water, sailing in a high arc through the air and landing roughly on dry sand.

Little feet stomped  through the sand, coming to a halt next to Erik. There were two in front of him and two even smaller ones behind him. In sheer panic, Erik scrambled away, frantically trying to reach the water again. He got as far as behind the smaller, now squeaking human, when he found himself tangled in an infernal net and once again scooped up.

"Octobus!" the squeaking human screeched.

"Shhht," said the other human. "Get the bucket, quick, or Daddy will notice."

Erik didn’t quite understand what a bucket was, but since the human holding the net was requesting it, it was bound to be some sort of torture tool for unlucky octopi. His searching tentacles had found a metal ring where the net was attached to some dry, smoother than natural wood. Up there, there was no net, so Erik decided that it must be his way out. He was just about to pull himself up and out of the predicament, when the world turned upside down and with a big splash, he landed in a very small basin filled with water.

What is this tiny prison of yours, Erik would have screamed if only the humans would have understood him.

He was too disoriented still from the fall to escape before the net was placed over the top of the prison. From a little way off, Erik could hear Charles yell, “Raven, Hank, we’re leaving. Gather your stuff!”

Raven and Hank must be the little humans that had captured Erik. He could hear a hushed discussion over his head. “He’ll see.” “I know. Gimme our towels.” “I like octobus. Why doesn’t Daddy like octobus?” “If he doesn’t know, he can’t take it away. I’m sure your octopus will like our pool.” “Pool!” And that about seemed to settle it, for not a minute later, the net was removed a second before the world went dark for Erik.

The now dark world started moving soon after, swinging back and forth. The tiny pool he was trapped in wasn’t even large enough for him to slip about, still he started to feel a little nauseated from the movements of his tiny prison. He might have attempted another escape , if not, soon after he had been entrapped in here by Hank and Raven, he had heard Charles’ voice from even closer and then staying a constant along to wherever it was they were taking him.

He decided he would  endure everything, as long as it meant it would take him closer to Charles. What if they were headed to Charles’ dry home though? Yet even humans needed water, so maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all.  He tried to meditate, to calm his mind, though it was hard. He tried to distract himself with listening to the conversation going on between Charles and the two tiny humans, but he only understood half of it. Something about building things out of sand the smaller one of the two was going on about.

Finally the movement stopped.

“Leave the toys outside, they are full of sand.”

Another rocky motion shook his prison as it was put down.

“Lets get you two cleaned up before dinner.”

“But I wanna play in the pool with the-!” The smaller one protested, but was quickly shushed by the other one.

“Raven! We can play with the shells we collected later!”

“But, Hank, I don’t mean the… ouch, daddy, Hank hit me!”

“I did not, I only poked you – a little.”

“Stop it, both of you, or there will be no ice-cream after dinner!”

A moment of silence greeted this, then there were screams of ‘Ice-cream!’ that disappeared into the distance.

Erik heard Charles sigh and then his retreating footsteps.

**♣**

Silence followed.

Erik waited.

As nothing happened he decided it was time to take matters into his own tentacles again. He reached up and started to push and prod at the thing that had darkened the sky. It was soft, yet surprisingly heavy.

Suddenly he heard someone approaching again. Light blinded Erik, as the cover of his prison was abruptly lifted.

"I knew it," Charles sighed as he lifted the towel his two kids had used to cover one of their buckets to both imprison the poor creature inside as well as to hide it from Charles. Thank goodness Raven had not yet learned how to lie convincingly-or at all, really. After a moment, during which his wariness battled with his sympathy for the forlorn octopus, he held out an arm.

"I guess you have now found a way to come with me to my house after all." He shook his head. "I can’t let you spend the night in a bucket, but it’s too late to take you back either. What to do, what to do…"

Erik wasn’t sure what was going on, however, he saw the outstretched arm and quickly scrambled up it to perch on Charles’ shoulder. The weird second skin he had now grown, was dry and not as smooth as Charles’ skin, yet not as rough as sand. He almost regretted leaving the bucket but he wasn’t letting go of Charles again. Somehow he would get used to that dry second skin.

"Hank!" Charles called. He hadn’t tried to pry Erik off yet again, Erik was pleased to note.

The two tiny humans came running at Charles’ call. Erik tried to hide behind Charles’ head as soon as he saw them.

“What is it, Da-Oh!” Erik could hear the taller tiny human.

"Are you going to tell me what you had planned to do with this poor octopus?" Charles asked sternly.

"Er…" Hank mumbled. "We…uhm…we wanted to keep it in our kiddie pool, Daddy."

"In freshwater?!"

"NO! Of course not!" Hank objected. "When I told Uncle Logan I wanted to see if I can catch me a live fish to keep it as a pet and study it, he gave me a scoop net and some salt from the pet shop to turn freshwater to saltwater."

"Huh," was the sound Charles made, sounding impressed. "I should have a word with your Uncle Logan about this." He sighed, shaking his head. "We’re not keeping an octopus in your kiddie pool. Go and fetch the salt. Raven, I and the octopus will be in the bathroom. And tomorrow, we’re taking it back to the ocean."

Erik wasn’t sure what to make of Charles’ plans. Getting back to the ocean sounded good, but he could not tell if Charles  intended to stay there with him then. So it seemed like he had one night to convince him.

But first Erik tried the hardest to stay on Charles’ shoulder as he started moving. He found they were heading into a big cave, only it wasn’t very dark inside. It had a lot of holes, where the light could shine through. Not so very secure as caves went, still it was large and Charles and the two tiny humans seemed to be the only humans about. Erik had to admit, his own cave he shared with a crab (he had meant to eat it, he still threatened to eat it from time to time, well maybe he would eat it one of these days – it was a long story) wasn’t that big.

They walked through a tunnel, then climbed upwards a big wooden jetty that was cut in blocks, to help the humans ascend. He had seen something similar at the beach, though there it had been cut in stone and not made of wood.

The tiny human was jumping up the jetty in front of them, while Charles, very considerate, had put a hand up on Erik to steady him. Carefully Erik let the tip of a tentacle weave between Charles’ fingers.

“Don’t get any funny ideas again.”

Erik puzzled about what Charles was trying to tell him, though maybe he was ticklish. Erik would have to be more careful. He used his favourite tentacle to touch Charles’ cheek, patting it gently, the tip of his tentacle tangling with the brown seaweed growing on Charles’ head, to find it didn’t feel like seaweed at all. It was still wet, yet didn’t taste of ocean water but had a strange, yet not unpleasant, tang to it.

Erik’s tentacle curled around one of the strands, angling for a better taste. Absently, Erik noted how nice it might feel be to entangle all his tentacles with it.

“Daddy, can I play with it in the bathtub?”

“No Raven, an octopus is not a toy. And it’s not like cats or dogs, who like to play with humans.”

The tiny human stopped for a moment and looked up at Charles and Erik. “It likes to play with you.” Then the tiny human broke into a run. “I’ll turn on the water!”

Charles suddenly turned his head to look sharply at Erik, but then only huffed and hurried after the tiny human. “You can do that, but remember, it doesn’t want a hot bath like we do.”

"It likes to play with me indeed," Charles muttered as he stepped up on a plateau on the top of the jetty.

Erik didn’t take it as critique. Of course he liked to play with Charles. Instead, he tangled two more tentacles in the seaweed on Charles’ head, to show how fully he agreed with Charles’ statement.

On top of the jetty, there was another cave Charles walked down to another entrance, where Erik could hear the voices of the tiny humans. There was also a splashing of water. It reminded Erik that he had been out of the water for longer than he had ever been before. His skin was already drying and starting to itch a little. He could take this for a while longer, but it got harder with every moment.

The cave Charles found the tiny humans in had no other entrances but the one Charles had stepped through. The walls were of a polished, smooth looking stone. It was a little colder here than in the rest of the cave. Erik relaxed. He even let one of the tangled tentacles drop. He could hear more splashing now, thanks to the taller kid using his arm to stir the water in the big, gleaming white basin.

"Are you ready, Hank?" Charles asked. He lifted the unresisting Erik from his shoulder. The expression on his face was worried when he looked at Erik. "Your octopus doesn’t look too well."

"Actually, the water should set over night," Hank mumbled, just when Raven squeaked, "But Daddy, the octopus thinks it’s yours!"

Charles looked at his kids in turn, unsure which to react to.

Erik, on the other tentacle, knew exactly which to ignore—Hank—and with which to wholeheartedly, albeit silently, agree. He could hear Charles and Hank discuss something, but the words didn’t concern Erik much. He slipped down from Charles’ hand to the floor and slithered over it to the basin. It was just low enough for him to pull himself up and onto the edge of it. Tentatively, he dangled a tentacle into the water.

It was a little to warm, but when he savored it, he found it tasted  like the ocean. Okay, not exactly like the ocean, but it would do. Erik plunged forward into the basin.

He stretched out his body and tentacles. Finally being able to do so again after his long confinement felt liberating. He tried moving about, exploring the place. It wasn’t big enough to swim properly, its length was fine but it wasn’t very wide. This pool was far from perfect, the walls too smooth and no rocks, shells or seaweed to play with, but it would be only temporary place to stay. Only until he could persuade Charles to come with him back to the ocean.

Finally, he looked up and found Raven watching him in avid fascination. “Daddy, do you think he would like a bubble bath?”

“No! I better put those away.” Charles quickly reached for a row of colourful containers standing on the rim of the pool. “That would hurt him very badly.”

Curious, Erik moved closer and that’s when he spotted it. A yellow bird with its greedy orange beak and mad wide eyes. It had been hiding behind the bottles and now sat there frozen, entrapped by Erik’s glare. He knew all about birds, especially seagulls. One had tried to eat him once. There was only one way to deal with those insolent creatures. Quickly he lashed out with two tentacles, wrapping them around the bird, whose body was surprisingly not feathery and very soft, making it easy for him to crush it. It made some pathetic squeaking noises as Erik pulled it into the water.

Raven squealed excitedly. “Daddy, he likes your rubber-duck.”

“Uh, I think the octopus is attacking it, just like it did our ship,” Hank interjected his little sister with curious excitement.

“Hank, he did what?” Charles gasped.

“It was just like in the movie with the giant shark and octopus. But we could get him off the ship before he could pull it under.”

“What movie?”

“One we watched at Alex’s place.” Hank mumbled quickly.

“I think he’s eating Ducky!” Raven still sounded more excited than alarmed and leant over the rim of the basin to get closer, but Erik was unwilling to share his prey. He had the bird in a firm hold under the waterline now and it reminded him that he hadn’t eaten for some time, his mind so set on Charles and how to lure him in, that he had lost his appetite. A quick snack now wouldn’t hurt though, so he could regain his strength. He just hoped the bird didn’t taste as strange on the inside as it did out.

“Hank, I said no horror movies – okay, we talk about this later. Raven, what do you mean? Eating, he can’t - ” Charles leant over the basin (and he must have knelt down beside it, for his face was much closer to the water now than before), just as Erik engulfed the bird with his body and pulled it to his beak.

“No!” Suddenly Charles reached into the water. “You can’t eat that!”

Charles was touching him, tugging at Erik’s tentacles, wiggling his fingers between them. Erik could have easily slipped away with his prey, but he didn’t want to. Actually, he suddenly didn’t feel all that hungry anymore.

“Release the rubber-duck this instant!” Charles sounded stern.

If Charles wanted that bird, well Erik would give it to him. Erik would give Charles the ocean if he wanted it, if that meant he would be finally his.

Erik pulled the bird out from underneath himself and held it up with two tentacles, presenting it to Charles.

“Wow.”

“Oh!”


	2. Chapter 2

♠  
A hushed silence had fallen in the cave. Erik felt the tips of his tentacles quiver in anticipation, as he held the bright yellow bird, offering his catch to Charles.

Between the tips of two fingers, Charles took the duck from Erik’s trembling tentacles. He didn’t eat it as Erik had expected. He just took it and placed it down somewhere beside him on the floor of the cave.

"He must be hungry," Hank observed.

"He ate the two fish I gave him at the beach, though he didn’t seem particularly interested in them,," Charles murmured. Erik could have sworn he sounded a little flustered. Good, that must mean he had understood the gesture for what it was, the bird a token of Erik’s love. "And by the way how come you two are suddenly so sure the octopus is male?"

"Because it likes you," Raven piped up beside him. She was still watching Erik with rapt attention.

"But that mustn’t mean it’s a male octopus," Charles protested. "There are plenty of women taking interest in me too." 

Erik poked his eyes out of the water at those words. _Who were those women and how many of them would he have to fight until they left his Charles alone for good?_  
"But you’re only dating guys." Raven was offering one of her tiny fingers to Erik now. He gently wrapped his second-favorite tentacle around them, careful not to crush them. Having her on his side as an ally in his pursuit of Charles sure wouldn’t hurt.

"Right." Charles cleared his throat. "How about I’ll see what fish we have left for it and feeding him."

"But I want to stay with the octopus," Raven whined. "Look, he’s holding my hand. We’re friends now too."

"Er, right. Hank, look after your sister for five minutes, will you?" And with that, Charles fled the cave.

“Do you think daddy will let him stay?” Raven started moving her hand, swinging Erik’s tentacle attached to it along.

Erik was starting to like these two tiny humans, despite them taking him along in such a rough manner, without asking him, but since the situation seemed to turn out better by the minute he couldn’t really hold it against them. Now if only he could communicate with them. They seemed to posses a lot of information about Charles that might be helpful.

“He said he wants to take it back to the ocean tomorrow, but I wonder if he would let it stay. Octopus are supposedly intelligent but this one seems especially intelligent. Maybe it’s even a new species of octopus. We could get a large tank from Logan and set it up in the living-room and then we could study it!”

“Oh yes, he can live in a tank in the living-room and we can play together, watch tv together and daddy can read goodnight stories to all of us…” The swinging of her hand got more excited and wild, so Erik drew back his tentacle, though Raven didn’t seem to notice in her excitement.

“I have to look up what species of octopus he is. Perhaps he is one that hasn’t been discovered yet.” Hank wandered over to the cave-entrance, then suddenly stopped and came back, looking guilty. “Raven, I’ve got to check my books about the octopus, but daddy said I mustn’t leave you alone… But the sooner we know if it is indeed an undiscovered octopus-species the sooner we can convince daddy to let him stay!” Hank looked hopeful at her.

Raven pouted. “Can I help you search in your books?”

Hank squirmed like a jellyfish for a moment, before he sighed. “Yes, okay, you can, but you must be careful with the books!”

“Okay! See you later Mr. Octopus!” She suddenly bent down and petted Erik on the head, but before Erik could show his indignation about that she and Hank left the cave.  
For a moment Erik just set there in the pool, waiting.

Soon he started to wonder if Charles had forgotten him somehow. He reached for the rim of the smooth basin with his tentacles and hoisted himself up, right the moment as Charles returned.

Charles stopped right at the entrance of the cave and Erik wished they were in the ocean, where he could swim towards Charles and wrap his tentacles around him in an enticing way. But on land he was admittedly a lot less graceful in his movements. He decided to stay put at the edge of the basin though he couldn’t stop two of his tentacles waving at Charles, unable to hide his excitement.

Charles made a strange noise, but then came closer. “Okay, I’m going to feed you but only because I don’t want you starving to death in my bathtub!” Then he shook his head and mumbled, “And why do I even feel the need to point this out to you! You’re just an octopus, a weird acting one, but – a lot less weird than if, no.” He huffed. “You’re just an octopus.” Almost defiantly Charles held out a small dead fish to Erik.

Erik was confused by Charles’ words, but the fish looked so enticing in Charles’ fingers and he reached out with two tentacles. One to steady himself on Charles’ hand while he still kept himself balanced on the slippery rim of the basin, the other to take the offered food from Charles.  
The hand holding the fish twitched for a second as if Erik’s tentacles were tickling Charles. Erik quickly grabbed the fish and slid back into the water. His hunger was finally winning over his wishes to seduce Charles—though that only meant they were postponed, not forgotten. Erik took a careful nibble at the fish. It tasted like it had been dead for too long and a little funny too, but not so bad Erik wouldn’t eat it. Infact, with the next bite, the whole fish disappeared into his beak. Though Erik prided himself on being a good hunter, it was reassuring to know that, despite the current distance to the sea, Charles obviously had means to provide for them too. Erik held out two of his tentacles to Charles for more.

Charles laughed. “More?” he asked. The next fish wasn’t held by Charles but neatly dropped onto Erik’s waiting tentacles.

It took a couple of more small fishes before Erik’s hunger was satisfied enough so he noticed Charles was watching him eat with interest. The next fish, Erik ate much slower, showing off to Charles how graceful he could be with his food. He was almost full, but Charles seemed willing to feed him more so who was Erik to stop if he got free food.

Just when Erik thought he couldn’t possibly eat more fish, the clattering of bare feet announced the return of the two tiny humans.

"Daddy!" Raven exclaimed, just in turn with Hank who was calling the same and waving a thick book about as well. "Daddy, look what we found!" Hank called out. "Look, look, doesn’t your octopus look just like the one in this illustration. But the book says it’s extinct, but then there’s the octopus in our tub and he looks just like it and Daddy Daddy please can we keep him now?" The last part was repeated by Raven as well.

Charles took the book between two fingers as if he was afraid it might bite him. He read the page Hank was showing him. Erik couldn’t hide his tension. Luckily, Raven was dangling her hand in the water again and he could wrap one of his tentacles around her fingers like he had before.

"Ridiculous," Charles huffed. "That’s… Hank, there’s no such thing as…" He shot Erik a glare as if it was all his fault. Erik hid behind Raven’s hand, knowing Charles couldn’t glare at her like he had glared at him. 

Charles let out another frustrated huff. "Wereoctopi are really nothing more than seaman’s yarn," he grumbled as if uttering those words could make them true.

Erik wished for some rocks, a heap of shells - or even just the ground covered in sand would do, really. Anything to be able to make himself more inconspicuous, because he wasn’t so sure what was more hurtful, Charles calling him ridiculous or him looking like he detested the very nature of Erik’s being. Even though he wasn’t exactly sure what it was that suddenly displeased Charles. And here Erik had thought Charles would be understanding and welcoming. He had watched him before he had picked him as his mate, and Charles had seemed at home in the ocean, or as at home as a human could be. Not blundering about like some humans did but mindful of his surroundings.

Raven turned towards him, looking intently at Erik. Carefully she patted Erik’s tentacle with her free hand. “Does that mean he will turn into a wolf at full moon?”

“What?” Charles sounded dumbfounded, his voice cracking. “Raven, how - “

“Cause you said he is a were-topus and that means he’s like a werewolf, right!”

“Yes, no!” Charles took a deep breath. “Who told you about werewolves?”

Hank was suddenly very interested in his book.

“We watched a movie about werewolves at Alex’s place.” Raven piped up.

“Hank, haven’t I told you - “

“I’m sorry. It wasn’t even scary and Raven promised not to tell!” Hank was glaring at his sister.

Charles groaned. “Okay, later we will have a very long talk about this Hank! Raven, no, werewolf means someone who is a human but who turns into a wolf at full moon. But werewolves aren’t real.”

Much to Erik’s chagrin Raven stepped aside and pulled her hand he was holding onto up for better inspection. “But he’s real and the book says he’s a were-topus soooo – but he’s an octopus already, he can’t turn into one!” A confused expression slithered over Raven’s face, that would have been funny, if the atmosphere hadn’t been so tense. Erik could taste it in the air.

“Uh, it says here that a wereoctopus is supposed to turn into a human at full moon, but with tentacles and…” Hank announced, but before he could read on, Charles plucked the book out of his fingers. 

“No! I told you, wereoctopi do not exist!”

“But you always said we barely know what is out there in the depths of the ocean, that there could be millions of species we haven’t the faintest idea about - “

“Yes Hank, I know, but not something like an octopus turning into a human at full moon, that is crazy!”

Erik let got of Raven’s hand, not caring about the loud splash it made as it hit the water. He turned away from the three humans. He didn’t have to to listen to this!

“Daddy, I think now he’s sad because you said something mean about him.” Raven whispered loudly.

“He’s not… he can’t be, he can’t have understood…” Charles voice faltered.

“At school Miss Frost always says we have to apologise if we say something mean.” Raven sounded sincere and like this wasn’t up for discussion.

Silence followed the words, then it sounded like someone was moving about and finally there was a rippling in the water around Erik, as if something, or someone, had broken the surface of the water.

“Alright, I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings.” Charles huffed once more. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

“Daddy, you must sound like you mean it. And then you must shake hands!”

Charles took a deep breath. “Really, this is rid- okay, I’m doing it.”

Erik decided he was not curious enough to look what was going on.

“I want to say that even though I simply cannot believe something so - no, that’s not right - I simply have no idea how you do it, but I get the feeling you understand what I’m saying and it wasn’t my intention to be rude or say something you might find offensive. Clearly you do exist – whatever you are.”

One of Erik’s tentacles, purely with a mind of its own and not heeding that the rest of Erik was so done with humans right now, searched the water behind Erik’s back and found Charles’ hand there, drifting aimlessly in the water.

"See, Daddy, he’s accepting your apology," Raven declared, suddenly an expert in wereoctopus feelings. "But he’s still sad, look? So you have to make him feel okay again."

Charles very nearly sighed. “Can you give me another hint, then?” he asked, straining to keep his voice soft.

But Erik could feel with his one traitorous tentacle that had wrapped itself around Charles’ little finger, that it was just an act. Charles had tangled two more fingers with the tentacle and was holding onto it just as much as Erik held onto the finger. The touch had a pacifying effect on Erik already.

"You hug me when I’m sad," Raven ventured, peering down into the water at Erik. "Your octopus liked hugs before, right? I bet he would like one now, too."

Erik couldn’t say he was opposed to being hugged by Charles, not at all and not even now. But he would have liked one because Charles wanted to hug him and not because Raven had told him so. Still, another tentacle slid towards Charles at the mere suggestion.

"Okay, fine," Charles mumbled. There was another ripple in the water, as his second hand breached the surface as well. The first touches were questioning, reluctant, but when Erik didn’t resist, and even leaned into Charles’ palms a bit, he was lifted out of the water and found himself close to Charles’ chest. 

Erik didn’t need to be invited twice. He immediately wrapped as much of his tentacles around Charles’ torso as he could reach.

"Does that mean we’re good again?" Charles asked Raven, the expert. He was petting Erik absentmindedly, while his other hand supported Erik to stay in place. If Erik had been a cat and not an octopus he would have purred.

"I think so," Raven announced after a quick inspection of Erik. "But you can never ever say something so mean to him again. Promise him."

"I promise I’ll never say something as mean as that he doesn’t exist," Charles said solemnly, much to Erik’s and Raven’s satisfaction.

"Good," Raven cheered. "Can we now take him outside, Daddy? I wanna see him change. Like the wolves in the movie! Please?"

"Absolutely not," Charles announced. "It’s well past bedtime for you anyway."

"Boo!" Raven retreated to the entrance of the cave. "But I wanna see the were-topus!" With those words, she ran off, clattering loudly down the stairs.

Charles’ chest heaved and fell with a deep sigh.

"I’ll go and read for a bit." Hank announced and backed out of the cave too.

"Alright, just not for long. I’ll come round and tug you both in soon."

Erik was distracted. The hug felt good, would have felt better if it weren’t for the dry second skin. But there was some warm skin around Charles’ neck and Erik tentatively reached for that, conscious to keep his touches light and only petting Charles unobtrusively.The more direct approach hadn’t been that successful so far after all.

Charles didn’t show any signs of protest.

Good, now he only had to get him into the basin with himself. There they could lay back and stay like this for hours. Maybe once inside the water Charles would shed his second skin too.  
Erik angled with one tentacle for the edge of the basin, gripping it and trying to pull Charles closer. Yet he wasn’t much more successful than he had been with the ship.

Charles sighed. “Look, I’m not getting into the bathtub with you.”

Why did Charles have to be so stubborn? And why did it make Erik want to try harder to convince him?

Well, if Charles didn’t want to get into the basin with him, he was willing to try and join Charles wherever it was he withdrew to sleep. Even if it turned out to be a rather dry spot in his rather dry system of caves. He could endure.

So Erik moved back to Charles, and clung to him with all eight tentacles .

“What are you – I think you should get back into the water. Staying outside for so long can’t be good for you, even if you are… not a normal octopus.”

In response, Erik tangled two tentacles at the back of Charles’ neck.

“Look I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt here. If you are – what it appears you are, then I’ll guess you understand me. Though why you should be particularly able to understand English I have no idea. These things are never covered in movies! You could only understand German for all I know, or some strange octopus language. And I’m babbling. Babbling and talking to an octopus.”

Reassuringly Erik traced a tentacle over Charles’ ear. He understood him just fine, and he liked the way his voice resounded in his chest where he was cradled against. It reminded him of the constant murmuring of the ocean.

Charles gasped and tried to brush Erik’s tentacle off his ear. “Don’t do that, my ears are sensitive!”

That was an interesting piece of information, one that required further testing. Erik curled the tip of his tentacle around the shell of Charles’ ear, which made Charles suddenly shiver and try to twist his head away.

“Don’t! Please!”

Erik hesitated. He enjoyed the tiny tremble that ran through Charles’ whole body, but he didn’t like the sound of distress in his voice. With a smidge of regret, he pulled back his tentacle.

Charles sighed with relief. “Thank you.”

Charles looked at him, thoughtful. Erik looked back.

Suddenly there was whispering from behind Charles.“He’s still hugging the were-topus .”

“Raven, you shouldn’t have got up again, daddy said it’s bedtime.”

“But he didn’t come read me a story, so I thought maybe the were-topus has changed.”

“Maybe he will only change at midnight.”

Charles’ skin changed colour, not as vividly as Erik himself could, but his face and neck turned distinctly red. The tiny brown dots dusting his face like the finest sand still stayed perfectly visible though. Charles half turned towards the cave-entrance, while trying to tug one of Erik’s tentacles loose from his neck.

The two small humans had their heads stuck round the entrance.

“Raven, Hank, I told you to get to bed. I’ll be right with you, Raven, but – I think – well- the octopus is scared. That’s why it needed a special long hug.”  
Scared? Charles believed that Erik was scared? He would beg to differ. No descendant of the mighty kraken was scared, not even when he found himself in unfamiliar surroundings on dry land. Erik untangled his tentacles from Charles and moved back to the rim of the basin. He let almost all of his tentacles dangle into the water, realising just then how uncomfortably dry he had started to feel again. Yet he still kept hold of the rim with two tentacles, so he could keep himself hoisted up and able to observe Charles and the small humans.

Charles sighed and got to his feet. “Looks like he is better now. Alright, now lets get you two back into bed.”

As Charles’ quick strides took him further and further away from the basin, Erik realised, he had made a crucial mistake, but it was too late.

Charles ushered the small humans away from the cave-entrance, though then he hesitated before disappearing from view. He turned his head to look at Erik and licked his lips. “And you just stay right there in the tub… I – uhm – I’ll look in on you when I come back .” Shaking his head Charles left.

Erik slid back down into the basin to wait there for Charles. He did it only because Charles had asked. Of course, otherwise, he’d have followed Charles, even though this set of caves was gigantic and dry and a little scary, even if Erik would never admit the latter. So he spent the time Charles left him waiting playing with that creep of a fowl, that Charles had left behind, once again perched on the rim of the basin. He still wondered why it never reacted, but as long as he didn’t eat it, he figured playing with it was alright with Charles.

After a while, he wondered what took Charles so long. The unresponsive yellow bird had long since lost all of Erik’s interest. If only he could call out for Charles to inform him that he was still awaiting his return. Like this he had only the choice between waiting and getting out of the water again and search for Charles.

Patience had never been one of Erik’s virtues.

So he once again put his tentacles on the rim of the basin, felt around for a bit until he found a safe grip and pulled himself up on the rim one more time. There was a splat when Erik’s soft body hit the tiled floor. Not that he would let himself be held up by a tiny fall like that. Determined, he pushed his body up on his tentacles and walked to the opening in the cave’s wall, imitating the way the humans had walked. It helped getting around on land better than he had managed before. Only, it was a tiny bit more exhausting. But he was sure Charles would appreciate the effort as the token of his love and adoration that it was.

He scuttled through the hallway to the wooden jetty leading downwards. He was sure he had heard Raven clatter down there before. Too focused on making his way to Charles as he was he didn’t notice the shifting shadows until the moon shone into the cave through the holes up in the wall.

It started as moonlight hit Erik’s body. At first he dismissed the feeling, as his skin started crawling, attributed it to being out on dry land again for a little too long. But quickly his skin did not only feel dry but also tight, like it was too small. Erik slowed down, each movement suddenly threatened to tear his skin open should he move too quickly.

His vision started blurring , his surroundings shifted out of focus and he swayed, his balance becoming precarious. Everything felt wrong all of a sudden, his body losing its familiar centre.

There was a short moment of clarity, as his eyes focused on the pale glowing disc, illuminating the black sky.

This had happened before, always on a bright night, when he happened to venture on dry land. It had been embarrassing and a bit scary, but always had the familiar ocean been close allowing him to retreat and wait for it to pass when things would turn back to normal. When _he_ would return to normal.

But now the ocean was far away and he was on unfamiliar ground.

Erik felt himself stretching out, tried frantically to keep a tight grip on the sloping ground with its too smooth wood that offered hardly any purchase for his eight tentacles…seven tentacles. His favourite tentacle grew smaller and useless for gripping things, though no less sensitive, before his eyes.

Still he held on, struggling not to lose his balance, when two more tentacles were pulled up to the side of his stretched body and changed.

The world tilted forward. Erik opened his mouth, that felt strangely unfamiliar, without a beak but a row of small sharp bone pieces and a thick tentacle inside. He screamed - or tried to, it came out rather muffled and was purely a sound of outrage and not of fear whatsoever, even if it might be mistaken as such - as the ground came hurtling toward his falling body that was suddenly much too large. Just in time he flung his two turned tentacles (arms, they were arms now, like Charles had them) forward to cushion his fall, though they proved a lot less flexible than his tentacles were.

And that’s how Charles found him.

Alerted by the thud coming from the stairs, he had rushed out of the children’s bedroom. Gladly Raven had already fallen asleep, lulled by Charles’ reading, the evening’s excitement and the day spent at the beach.

Charles stopped at the foot of the stairs and looked up at – well, at first he thought it was _his_ , no, _the_ octopus, only to realise the mass of writhing tentacles was a lot larger than the octopus in the bathtub had been. The second impression he got was, that a giant octopus had suddenly manifested itself on his staircase and was now in the process of eating a stranger - had actually succeeded in half swallowing him, by the looks of it.

Then the man moved, pushed himself up on his arms and the tentacles behind him, or covering his legs, shifted as if to help in the process.

The man got a grip on the stairs’ railing and pulled himself up and that was when Charles realised, there were no legs. The man’s upper body looked normal, though the word normal was selling the lean frame, toned with muscles and the broad shoulders rather short. However where the legs should have been, thick tentacles kept the man upright, tentacles just like an octopus’.

Charles stared, his gaze drifting between the tentacles and human body parts, finally settling on the area right where skin texture changed between human and octopus.

“Ch – Ch – Char – Charles.”

Charles jerked his head up at the unfamiliar voice saying his name. He didn’t recognise the handsome face, though as the thin lips moved in what could only be described as a tentative smile and the grey-greenish eyes lit up, there was an undeniable yet uncanny familiarity about him.

As if he had to check that he hadn’t just imagined things, Charles shot a short look down to the man’s legs again.

Nope, tentacles were still there.

There was only one possible explanation to this – him – yet Charles struggled to come to terms with what he was seeing. _'No, this is only a stupid story, no, this can not be true, not happening, not to me, no, nonono.'_ “No!”

“Charles,” Erik’s unfamiliar voice said once again. It was weird to have a voice like the humans. It was weird to have arms like the humans did, though he couldn’t object to them that much, seeing as they were what currently held him upright. Standing on only five tentacles was the worst of it. It always was. Usually, all he had to do was return to the ocean as fast as he could possibly manage. Navigating in the ocean was easy, even with only five tentacles. Moving around on land was hard enough. Less limbs made it only harder.

Erik tried to turn and go back to the basin, at least it had water in it and he could moisten his skin there. Breathing wasn’t much of a problem anymore, to Erik’s never ending astonishment. He had never had to think much about this change that came over him at random nights before. And now he was on top of some steep downward sloping jetty, with Charles standing at the foot of it, and had no idea what to do. He just wanted to crawl into a dark corner and wait for it to be over. In the best case with Charles, but at this point, he didn’t much care about that detail. He just wanted it to be over.

That he had no idea how to balance this new body on only five tentacles didn’t help at all.  
The second he dared to let go of the branchlike wood he had been clinging to, he was already toppling over again. He gripped the it again, with his arms and a few of the tentacles, clinging to it so he wouldn’t fall down the jetty.

“Er…” Charles had started to climb the steep wooden way up to Erik as if it were easy. “Are you alright?” He looked worried.

Erik looked down at his changed, weird body. Alright would be the last word he’d use to describe his current state. “What’s happening?” he asked. Charles was clever, he ought to have an explanation. And just because Erik could, with Charles standing so close, he let go of the branch and clung to Charles instead. That was a big improvement.

Charles looked at the half-octopus half-man suddenly in his arms. Okay, there was no need to panic, he had to stay calm. First, he should sum up the things he knew. This was definitely _his_ , no _the_ octopus. That behavior was a dead giveaway if he’d ever seen one. The colour and texture of the remaining tentacle only added to this suspicion. Second, he needed to come up with something to say. The octopus had talked and asked him a question. Too bad Charles had no idea how to answer that. Okay, no, that was a lie he told himself, because he didn’t want it to be true.

“You…” Charles cleared his throat. It was really unfair that the first wereoctopus he ever met had to be such a handsome specimen. “Did you step into moonlight?” he asked instead of answering the question.

The octopus looked at him as if he had never considered a connection between the light of the moon and these changes before. Okay, Charles’ next research paper would definitely try to disprove the assumed intelligence of wild octopi. 

“The specs of light in the long cave?” the octopus asked.

Charles nodded. 

Then, the octopus nodded too.

“See?” Charles declared. “Case solved. You really are a wereoctopus like the children thought. Jolly good. Now all we have to do is wait, and I’m sure you’re back to normal by sunrise. Or whenever the full moon is over. No need to worry.” Charles had always resorted in cheerfulness whenever the world would get too crazy. 

Then, because he was a scientist as well as panicky, he asked, “Say, you speak like me. Do you breathe like a human, too? I wonder, do you have a normal human skeleton down to the hips and then the body of an octopus from there?” He started exploring the octopus’ torso with his hands. He found there was nothing to it, had the octopus himself groped him in every way possible the time they had met. And if Charles only had this night to find out as much as possible about the physique of a wereoctopus, he’d better make the best use of it.

Erik frowned, the many muscles in his face acting on their own accord. He felt the urge to touch his own face with his tentacles, to check what was happening there, but even supported by Charles, he didn’t trust his balance.

Wereoctopus? Yes, the word had been used before, a lot, but amidst all the babbling of the tiny humans, of which he only was able to understand half, he hadn’t paid it any more attention. And what did it _mean_ anyway?

Erik wanted to ask Charles, who seemed to know what it meant and for whom this single word seemed to explain everything that was happening to Erik. (Oh Erik really had chosen wisely, when he picked Charles among all the humans that came to dive in the ocean.) But there were Charles’ hands, sliding across Erik’s strange new humanlike part of his body. It felt so different, no-one ever had touched him when he was like this, he couldn’t have imagined he would want anyone to, when he felt like a stranger in his own body after the change. But Charles’ hands, the touch tickling, raising little shivers, made him more aware of his body. As if he was finally settling in.  
Charles ran his hands over the side of Erik’s human body, then moved a hand up to touch Erik’s neck. “You don’t seem to have any gills.”

“I can breathe on land - now.” Erik offered tentatively.

“Does that mean you no longer have three hearts?”

Erik looked down to observe Charles pressing his hand against his chest here and there as if he was searching for something. 

“Hm, it’s hard to tell like that…is this the first time this happened to you?”

Erik shook his head.

Charles looked up surprised, a strand of floppy soft not-seaweed falling into his face. He needed to ask Charles what it was.  
Erik reached out with a hand and stopped as he caught sight of it. He stared at the inadequate thing, even with its tiny tentacles, fingers, sprouting out of its end, it was less flexible, less strong and less sensitive. He couldn’t even smell what he touched.

“Look, it’s like mine.” Charles raised his own hand, holding it against Erik’s. “Well, almost. Yours are larger and you’ve got rather long fingers.”

Erik pressed his hand against Charles’, their fingers slid along each other and suddenly they were entwined. Erik smiled delighted. Not so useless after all.

“Oh – well – yes, you can hold hands… and shake hands and do all sort of things with hands though I guess you can do most of that with your tentacles too.” Charles cheerfully babbled on. “Now, speaking of tentacles, do you know how long this usually lasts?”

“Some time.”

“Ah, yes, great. Only as long as it’s dark or during daylight as well?”

“I rather wait somewhere dark till it’s over.”

“Okay, but…”

“Three nights.” Erik interrupted him. He moved Charles’ hand from side to side. At least his own grip was still firm, even if he was missing the suction cups. He was distracted enough to miss Charles staring open-mouthed at him.

“Three – well – I guess – putting you back into a bucket and taking you down to the ocean tomorrow no longer is an option.”

“I didn’t like getting carried here.”

“Yes, of course, I’m sorry that happened. Hank and Raven didn’t mean any harm, they are only children and didn’t quite think it through.”

“But I like being with you.” Erik added earnestly and watched in fascination as Charles’ pale face started changing colour again. He noticed Charles’ hands getting warmer.

“Ah – thank you. That is very nice of you to say. Why don’t we get you to somewhere more comfortable now. Like up the stairs and back into the bathtub. I guess you’ll still prefer to stay in salt water. Then we, then I, well we think of what to do then. Sleep probably. Everything is better after a good night’s sleep.”

A wave of panic washed over Erik. He couldn’t really let go of the rail he clung to. On the beach he always would crawl back into the water on hands and tentacles, but even though he couldn’t very well watch himself, he was under the distinct impression that he looked rather ungraceful doing so. He couldn’t have Charles see him like that. His condition was embarrassing enough already. He was one of the most graceful creatures to swim in the ocean and now he was even more clumsy than a human in water.

The solution seemed simple.“You’ll carry me back.” Erik announced, looking forward to curl up against Charles’ chest again, knowing he could cling to him with his tentacles. Then he realised that Charles wasn’t that big anymore, or rather, that he himself had grown and was now Charles’ size, maybe even a little taller.

That meant Charles wouldn’t be able to carry him back into the basin!

In his first excitement, Erik had let go of the rail and flung his arms and three of his remaining tentacles around Charles before he had noticed that it was not of much use. Charles blinked up at Erik. Much to Erik's relief, he didn't try to free himself from Erik's embrace just yet, but it was obvious from how stiff he'd suddenly gone that he was feeling uncomfortable. Erik slowly dropped his tentacles one by one, until only his arms remained around Charles' nice, warm upper body.

Erik made a small, embarrassed noise. His head felt warm, one of the curious reactions of this strange body he never had gotten used to.

“Er, I doubt I'll be able to do that, now,” Charles said, very carefully. “You're rather... tall, like this. Ehm, what should I call you? Do you have a name? I know you know mine so, that means you understand the concept, yes?”

Erik looked down this body. He would have called it a lot of other things before he would have called it tall. Unhandy, impractical, weird, were just the first three that came to mind. However, for this time, he let it slide. Charles hadn't sounded too appalled when he'd said it. 

“E-Erik,” Erik answered Charles’ last question.

Again, Charles looked at him as if he couldn't believe what was happening.   
“Erik?” he repeated. The corners of his mouth were twitching. 

Erik nodded. 

“Really?”

Erik nodded again. It confused him that Charles was now pressing his lip together in a thin line that almost managed to force the color out of them.  
“Was that wrong?” Erik asked. Humans were even more confusing when you could communicate with them.

Charles shook his head. He pressed a hand against his mouth and took a few deep breaths, clearly struggling to control himself. “No, it's not, it's just.” Another deep breath. “If you can help it, don't tell Raven, okay? I'm not sure what she'll make of it. You know, the prince in one of her favorite stories is called Eric and there's another character that looks a little like you, so...”

Erik stopped listening at some point. He had no idea what Charles was talking about, though he liked the sound of Charles’ voice when he babbled, and the movement of his red lips. He nodded at some points, just to keep Charles talking.

“Well now,” Charles sighed. “Sorry for that. Er, I guess we should get you back to the tub now. Your skin must be too dry to be comfortable by now.”

Erik looked down. When he was like this, he could spend more time out of the water without getting uncomfortable. Still, he nodded. All he wanted was to curl up somewhere dark, preferably with Charles and wait for it to be over.

“Can you help me get back?” Erik mumbled. This was so disgraceful. He was an elegant creature of the depths. And yet he couldn't navigate the dry land with a body like this without having to ask for help. But having to crawl back in front of Charles was even worse.

“Of course, but you have to let go of me first. Don't worry, it'll be just for a moment.”

Reluctantly, Erik withdrew his arms. He swayed a little, standing on his own, but it wasn't as bad as it had been before. At least now, his tentacles stayed under him like they were supposed to.

Only a moment later, Charles took one of Erik's arms and pulled it over his shoulder, stabilizing him like this without having to carry too much of Erik's weight. “Can you walk like that?” Charles asked. “Just put one foot, I meant, tentacle after another. You'll be fine, trust me.”

Erik nodded. He had to concentrate on moving his tentacles, but with Charles’ help it somehow worked . It took him almost to the end of the long cave to figure out that it was easier if he moved two tentacles at the same time, imitating the way the humans walked. It would have been even easier with an even number of tentacles.

The tub, as Charles had called the basin, looked so small now that Erik had changed. He slipped from Charles’ grip so he could slide into the basin. To his horror, he didn't fit anymore. He could manage to pull all his tentacles inside, but just barely, while the tips still kept dangling over the edge. Only about half of them were in the water.

“Huh,” was the sound Charles made. “Do you really want to,” he yawned. “Want to stay here like this?”

Erik shrugged. He liked this cave and if Charles wanted him to stay, he would. Maybe just not in the tub. He shifted, but he couldn't find a position that was comfortable. “It's small,” was all Erik could say.

Charles sighed. “I know. Listen, do you know how fast your skin dries like this?”

Again, all Erik could do was shrug. “The longest I stayed out of the water like this was a quarter of a night and it didn't feel itchy then,” he mused. “Just a bit sticky.”

Charles nodded. “If you want to risk it, I guess I could prepare our spare bedroom for you.” He sounded tired. “It's a bit warmer there than in here, but the bed would be more comfortable and maybe big enough for most of you. I could provide you with a bucket of water, too so you could moisten your skin again when you wake up.”

“Charles? You like to babble,” Erik interrupted him.

“Oh?” Charles blinked. “I guess I do.”

“It's fine for me to stay here,” Erik said, with much confidence he didn't feel.

Charles nodded. “Well, okay then, good night.” With that, he left Erik in the cave, pausing only to explain, pointing a button at the wall next to the entrance, “If you want it dark in here, just flick this switch, understood?” And then he was gone and Erik was alone.

Erik stared at the cave-entrance while his tentacles listlessly splashed about in the water.  
He wondered where Charles had gone. It didn’t look like he would be back. He turned back to the pool, or tub, like Charles had called it and moved about trying to see if he couldn’t fit his whole body, tentacles and that other part inside. 

The yellow bird was still defiantly swimming in the tub. It seemed to be smiling mockingly at him, even though it now was considerably smaller than Erik. With a quick move he lashed out with a tentacle and dragged the duck under water, squeezing hard till it made a pathetic squeaking noise and bubbles rose to the surface.

It made Erik feel a little better, even though it lasted only for a short moment.

He felt exposed, unable to hide in the basin – tub – and without Charles to hold on to, sitting here in the glaring light. His gaze was drawn to the white little rectangle in the wall Charles had indicated before he had left. To make it dark?

Slowly Erik slithered out of the tub. He contemplated going with the trusted and tested arms and tentacles way of moving about, but then Charles might come back and he didn’t want him to see him like that. So he tried to balance on just five tentacles and, gripping every object he could find along his path with his hands for balance, slowly made his way to the wall next to the cave entrance.

It took some poking and prodding at the rectangle, but suddenly it made a clicking sound and the room went dark.

Surprised, Erik stood still for a moment, waiting for his eyes to adjust. Even more slowly he made his way back to the tub and slid what would fit of his body inside. To his chagrin he found the bird was again merrily swimming in his water. He had enough of that insolence and decidedly threw the thing out of the tub across the cave, then sank back against the smooth wall the tub was set against.

It was far from comfortable.

He wrapped his arms around his human-like body, hugging himself.

It was very – dark.

Not that he wasn’t used to dark nights in the ocean, but no matter how deep Erik had swum, he was always surrounded by the familiar tastes and smells of the sea, the plants and fish there, the ocean was alive.

Here he was surrounded by silence, no familiar taste reaching his tentacles, no fish swimming by, unaware of his presence, only dark stillness was pressing in on him.

Maybe he should have asked Charles to stay, but then the tub couldn’t even hold him, so Charles would never have fitted in too. But Charles had been talking about some other place, somewhere bigger. Was that where Charles had gone to sleep?

He was out of the tub and halfway across the cave, before he started to think clearly again. Charles hadn’t invited him to share his sleeping place. Charles hadn’t been repelled by his changed, strange body, lacking in tentacles. But he had been babbling and maybe that was a sign he didn’t feel comfortable in Erik’s presence.

Erik looked back, mind half on trying to squeeze back into the tub.

The darkness seemed to loom silent and forbidding behind him causing a chill to run down his back.

His tentacles moved forward again, away from the darkness.  
Outside the small cave slivers of light coming from outside illuminated his way as he moved close to the wall, so he could brace himself against it. He had no clear idea where to look for Charles. But he didn’t dare to navigate down the steep jetty – yet – so he tried his luck looking around on this level of the cave.

There seemed to be an opening to a cave in the wall, but Erik found it barred. He frowned and pushed with hands and tentacles against it, but couldn’t open it. So he moved on. There was another opening, just as rectangular as the one before, and it too had a barrier, but this one, Erik found, he could push open.

The cave stretching out behind it appeared larger, though it was hard to make anything out clearly. He heard movement coming from the right side of the cave, then Charles’ familiar voice, sleep addled, broke through the dark. “Hank? Raven? That you?”

Erik shook his head, realising too late that Charles wouldn’t see him. He heard a little sigh from Charles, more movement and then suddenly the room was bathed in dim light. Charles was sitting beside it’s source, on a large stone, covered in blankets like humans liked to take to the beach, only larger. He had a blanket pulled on top of himself too, only as he sat up it slid down to pool in his lap and Erik could see Charles had shed his second skin.

Erik suddenly felt the urge to move closer, crawl onto the stone slab and wrap his tentacles around Charles.

"Erik?!"

He had started to move but stopped at Charles’ voice. “Charles…”

Charles rubbed a hand over his face. “Is everything alright?”

No, nothing was alright. Everything was – wrong. And he didn’t know how to tell Charles. ”I’m too big for the basin like this, the bird won’t drown and keeps coming back, I can’t smell or feel the ocean, here it’s silent – and it’s dark.” He swayed on his tentacles. There was nothing for it, he moved forward, till he reached the stone slab Charles rested on and half-slid half-flopped onto it. To his surprise, unlike stone, it was very soft and gave way a little under his weight.

Charles though looked even more surprised to have a distressed wereoctopus suddenly sitting on his bed. He sighed. For a brief moment, he wondered if this situation meant that he now had to deal with three children of various shapes and sizes that couldn't sleep on their own. He pinched the bridge of his nose. When he had said he wanted to sleep before dealing with any of this, he had been serious. And somehow, after how Erik had behaved back at the beach, he was less than thrilled by the prospect of having Erik in his bed.

Then again, if it was just for a night and allowing Erik to stay would also allow him to sleep, he was fine with making that little sacrifice. Sheets could be changed and washed, after all.

Charles waved Erik closer. “If you want to, you could stay here in bed with me for the night,” he told Erik. “If that's better than the tub, which is totally up to you of course.” He might still be feeling a bit guilty about the abduction of the poor little octopus, even if he wasn’t that little anymore. “It still doesn't smell or taste like the ocean, I know but-”

He didn't get any further, though, as Erik gave up trying to stay upright for good and practically launched himself at Charles, wrapping his arms and most of his tentacles around his body. Charles leaned back and closed his eyes for a moment. “I take this as a yes, then,” he sighed. “Is it okay if I turn off the lights now? I don't know about you, but I'm tired.”

When Erik nodded, his face pressed close against Charles' chest, Charles turned of the lamp on his nightstand again.“Good night, Erik.”

Erik replied only with a deep hum. From what Charles could assume, he was very content like this. Absentmindedly, he started to pet Erik's hair.

He was just on his best way to dreamland, when he felt movement underneath the covers again. Involuntarily, Charles stiffened. He didn't mind Erik in his bed, he told himself, but it became harder and harder to forget about how Erik had touched him when they had first met. He told himself that it might only be Erik trying to get comfortable. It didn't help him soothe his mind that the human part of Erik looked very handsome. In fact, that made it only harder for him.

Charles forced himself to hold still and say nothing until Erik stopped shifting about. He managed. For about five minutes. “Erik,” he hissed. The tentacle petting his abdomen stopped. If Charles hadn't known it better, he would have called it sheepish. “Listen, if you want to stay, stop touching me like that,”

“'m sorry,” Erik mumbled. “Your skin is just so smooth and nice.”

Charles suppressed an exasperated sigh. “I'm more and more under the impression you're trying to seduce me,” he said, not joking at all, but hoping Erik would get it that way.

“And what if I was?” Erik asked.

Charles groaned. This was not the kind of stuff he wanted to deal with in the middle of the night after a long, exhausting day with his kids at the beach. “Then that's another point on the long list of things we have to talk about tomorrow,” Charles decided. “For now, you keep your tentacles to yourself, understood? And before you get the wrong impression, your hands as well.”

There was a short silence, then Erik said meekly, “Understood.” The tentacle withdrew as well. 

Charles felt slightly bad about his stern words. But he couldn't have Erik in his bed and let him continue with the touching. He barely knew him. And Erik was a Wereoctopus, which really should bother Charles a lot more than it was, now that he was thinking about it. After all, that meant 25 days out of 28, Erik was an octopus.

Charles closed his eyes one more time.

To his relief, Erik seemed to have gotten the message with the tentacles. He didn't try to touch Charles again. What he did do, though, was putting his head on Charles’ chest after a while. He was very tentatively about it. Which was why Charles let him.

If Charles was honest with himself it was nice to have someone to share his bed with again. Even though Erik's tentacles were clammy and cold. His upper body wasn't. And, as Charles had determined earlier, when he had been trying to figure out what to do about the strange man on his stairs and hiding his confusion behind his curiosity, the toned muscles had in fact felt really good.

Charles was really hopeless.

He put his arm around Erik. He told himself that it was just because this position was more comfortable. Like that, he was able to finally fall asleep after a while.


End file.
